Delancey Street (Manhattan)

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Delancey Street is one of the main thoroughfares of Manhattan's Lower East Side, running east from the Bowery to connect to the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn.

Businesses range from delis to check-cashing stores to bars. Delancey Street has long been known for its discount and bargain clothing stores. Famous establishments include the Bowery Ballroom, built in 1929, Ratner's kosher restaurant (now closed), and the Essex Street Market, which was built by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to avoid pushcart congestion on the neighborhood's narrow streets. As the Lower East Side becomes gentrified, more upscale retail and nightlife establishments have moved in.

Delancey Street is named after James De Lancey, Sr., whose farm was located in what is now the Lower East Side.

The IND Sixth Avenue Line (F) and BMT Nassau Street Line (J M Z) of the New York City Subway stop at Delancey Street–Essex Street, and the Nassau Street trains also stop at Bowery. The M9, M14, and M15 NYCTA buses stop on Delancey Street, and the B39 bus traverses the Williamsburg Bridge.

Delancey Street used to be one of the main shopping streets in the Jewish Lower East Side. Today the neighborhood around Delancey is a mix of young professionals and artists along with working class African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Chinese. Delancey Street is considered by many to be the unofficial northern border of Manhattan's Chinatown. Shopping bargains can still be found along Delancey Street, mostly at chain stores such as Payless ShoeSource, Hyperactive, and Gem Value Stores. A Starbucks opened on Delancey Street in 2005, signaling the further gentrification of the neighborhood.

From west to east, Delancey Street starts from the Bowery, intersects Chrystie Street, Forsyth Street, Eldridge Street, Allen Street, Orchard Street, Ludlow Street, Essex Street, Norfolk Street, Suffolk Street, Clinton Street, Attorney Street, Ridge Street, Pitt Street, Columbia Street (Bialystoker Place), and Lewis Street, and ends at the FDR East River Drive. The street continues as Kenmare Street west of the Bowery.

[edit] In art and pop culture

The well-known song "Manhattan" (Rodgers and Hart) informs: "It's very fancy/ On old Delancey/ Street, you know."

The 1988 film Crossing Delancey is a romantic comedy focusing on the different shades of urban life in the area.

The cover of Jesse Malin's solo debut album The Fine Art of Self Destruction was filmed at the Delancey Street subway station.

In the fictional comic book Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four character Ben Grimm (AKA "The Thing") is known for coming from a "Yancy Street", which is based on and in reference to Delancey Street.

The prolific comic book artist Jack Kirby lived around Delancy street in his early years.

"Chrystie Delancey" is thought to be a woman's name by several characters in the 2000 film Happy Accidents, starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Marisa Tomei, until it is revealed to be a reference to the corner of Chrystie and Delancey streets.

Regina Spektor sings, "Hey remember that time I found a human tooth down on Delancey?" in "That Time", a song off Begin to Hope, her 2006 release.

In the song "Delancey Street" (1986), by 80's rapper, Dana Dane, he raps "...You'll tell your friends, and they'll chuckle and giggle// Now this little story's called Delancey Street// It's the place where clothes are bought and people meet// Each city has a place that's quite the same// Even though it might go by a different name// Delancey Street//Delancey Stree-eet//Delancey Street// This story can't be beat"

The 1987 Sonic Youth song Stereo Sanctity refers to "satellites flashing down Orchard and Delancey."

In the song "Sunken-Eyed Girl" off of the album Haughty Melodic by Mike Doughty, "Sunken-eyed girl on Delancey street.."

edit Bi-Directional Streets of Manhattan
West End Kenmare Street Bowery	Uptown West 207th Street Dyckman Street West 181st Street U.S. 1/I-95 West 165th Street West 155th Street West 145th Street 135th Street 125th Street 110th Street Central Park North 96th Street 86th Street 79th Street 72nd Street	Midtown/Downtown Central Park South 59th Street 57th Street 42nd Street 34th Street 23rd Street 14th Street Houston Street Delancey Street Canal Street Worth Street Chambers Street	East End FDR Drive
WSH (12) | Riverside | 11 (West End) | 10 (Amsterdam) | Dyer | 9 | 8 or CPW | 7 | 6 or Lenox | 5 | Madison | Park (4) | Lexington | 3 | 2 | 1 | A or York | B or East End | C | D | FDR